Week 9

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From a byobu by Kano Kanō Eigaku (1543 - 1590). See discussion

About Cherry Trees & Blossoms

Hanami

For over a thousand years, Japanese have had a thing about enjoying flowers when they are in bloom. The practice is called hanami which literally means "viewing flowers". Today, it mostly refers to celebrating cherry trees (sakura) and sometimes flowering plums (ume) in parks and in the countryside. A common English name for hanami is Cherry Blossom Festival.

Japanese Hanami Scenes

The photo below is of a canal on the Meguro River at Nakameguro Park in Tōkyō. It is a favorite place for couples to stroll during hanami.

Since sakura bloom at different times in different parts of Japan, there is no fixed date for hanami. They typically bloom as early as January in Okinawa, late March to April on the big island of Honshu, and May on Hokkaidō. The weather can also influence when trees bloom. Media outlets of all sorts announce the projected times for hanami all over Japan. This is an example of a sakura blooming forecast.

A stone Buddha's head looms above sakura trees in bloom at Tsubosaka-dera Temple near Nara, once the seat of Japan's emperor.

In general, hanami isn't a formal affair. Families commonly pack lunches or dinners and go to parks or into the countryside to enjoy the views, either in small groups or in flower-viewing parties. Vendors set up booths in parks to sell bentō (box lunches) for those who aren't do-it-yourselfers. There are other ways of enjoying the time besides picnicking on lawns as this river scene illustrates.

Besides city parks, there are many places in the countryside where hanami can be enjoyed, too, like this one that combines sakura viewing with a fine view of Japan's iconic Mt. Fuji looming in the background.

Washington, D. C.

Japan isn't the only place where hanami occurs, though it may not be called that. In 1912, Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tōkyō gave 3,020 sakura trees to Washington, D.C. They were planted around the Tidal Basin. This year, 3,700 cherry trees are expected to be in bloom, and 1.5 million visitors are expected to see them. That is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in the background.

Washington treasures its cherry trees, so it is tragic that rising sea levels due to global warming is causing routine flooding of walkways around the Tidal Basin at high tide and killing nearby cherry trees with brackish water.

Last year, the National Park Service announced the approval of a plan to refurbish the Tidal Basin and raise its seawall nearly five feet. Walkways around the basin will be widened, and 140 cherry trees will be cut down along with about 160 other trees in the area. Eventually, 277 new cherry trees will be planted to replace them. Work begins this summer, and the project will take about three years to complete.

San Diego

San Diego's Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park has over 200 cherry blossom trees. The types vary--some blooming earlier than others--to extend the duration of its Cherry Blossom Festival. The formal festival is over for this year, but there were lots of trees in bloom when we were there Wednesday, March 28.

Cultural Significance

As Japan's national flower, sakura represents a time of renewal and optimism, blooming as it does toward the end of winter and early spring in most places. The blossoms are short-lived, however, so sakura also symbolizes the transience of life, a Buddhist concept. They are thought to symbolize clouds, too, because of their tendency to bloom en masse and then soon disappear again.

Sakura: Japan's National Flower

The cherry trees known in Japan as sakura are all ornamentals. The fruit they bear is not edible. Many of the cherry trees currently enjoyed for hanami are not wild species but cultivars, selected since the Heian Period (794 - 1185) for relatively large blossoms. Books from the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) describe more than 200 varieties of sakura. Sakura blossoms range in color from pink to nearly pure white.

Basic blossoms are fairly simple. Rather than adhering directly on the branches of the tree, sakura blossoms have their own stems. Think about the stems attached to the fruit of regular cherry trees.

They often blossom in clusters.

Note the cleft at the ends of the blossom petals. This is one of the things that distinguishes most cherry blossoms from plum (ume) blossoms.

These white sakura blossoms are from Washington, D.C.'s tidal basin.

Some varieties are double-flowered with as many as 20 to 50 petals.

Artwork

Japanese artists haven't been shy about painting sakura. There are so many that it is hard to choose which ones to show. The ones below are representative.

Kanō Eigaku (1543 - 1590)

Descended from the founders of the prestigious Kanō school of art, Eigaku became one of the most sought after artists of his time, acquiring commissions from the shōgun and other high ranking aristocrats. This 6-fold byōbu is titled Cherry Tree and Stream.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 - 1848)

Famous for his ukiyo-e landscapes, Hokusai painted many subjects. Among them are kachō-ga (pictures of birds and flowers) like this Hawk and Cherry Blossoms printed in 1834.

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1865)

Kunisada was, in his time, the most popular and successful ukiyo-e artist in Japan, specializing primarily in bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people). This triptych, published in 1853 is titled Flowering Slopes of Arashiyama.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

Hiroshige is considered to be the last great ukiyo-e master of the Edo Period (1603 - 1868). Like Hokusai, he is best known for his series of landscape prints, but he also painted other subjects. The print below titled Cherry Blossoms in the Yoshiwara District, part of his Famous Places in Edo series, was published in 1844. The Yoshiwara district was Edo's pleasure quarter. With its tea houses, kabuki theaters, and brothels, the Yoshiwara district was the cultural center of Japan's ukiyo (floating world).

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 – 1861)

Kuniyoshi was known for his wide range of ukuyo-e subjects, from people and kabuki actors to animals to mythical creatures to famous battle scenes. His Cherry Blossoms at Night Along the Sumida River was published in the 1843-7 time frame.

Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842/3 – 1894)

Hiroshige III was a student of Hiroshige's along with Hiroshige II. He continued producing ukiyo-e prints well after the end of the Edo Period. He had his own idea for admiring cherry trees along the Sumida River in contrast to Kuniyoshi's idea shown above, a work he published in 1879.

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